BROMLEAGE THE NEWSLETTER OF THE BROMLEY BOROUGH LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY No. 6/94 DECEMBER 1994 JOINT MEETING There is to be a joint meeting our Society and the Chislehurst Society on Tuesday 21st February 1995 at 8.00 p.m. The venue is the Methodic Church Half Prince imperial Road. Chislehurst. The subject for the evening will be CHISLEHURST CAVES and there will be three speakers, Roy Hopper, Eric Inman, and Chris Manning Perry. This should be a most interesting evening and we hope that as many as possible will come along to make this joint effort a great success. ITS WHERE YOU SLEEP THAT COUNTS Our November speaker Dr Ron Cox gave a most detailed and interesting talk on the care of the poor, the homeless and the illegitimate in 19th century. Whilst most of his history was based on the Beddington area of Surrey it naturally referred to all other parts of the country. The local authority responsible for you if you became destitute depended on where you were bom. Thus if a vagrant came into the village and couldn't prove that was where he was bom he was very quickly escorted on his way over the border so that some other authority would be 'landed' with him Sometimes a poor person, or even poor family would be sent to then place of origin only to find that wasn't where they had come from and were consequently sent back to Beddington before being put on their way again elsewhere. A sorry case of 'over to you mate'! These poor unfortunates were expected to walk from Beddington to whichever authority to which they were being sent - and walk back again if it was the wrong location. This could be many miles and take several days. Certainly no Welfare State in those days. The December meeting saw Geoffrey Doel entertaining us with his history of Mummers and related rituals. His talk was very well illustrated with slides covering Mummers from many villages in Kent, Sussex and Surrey. His enthusiasm and knowledge came over loud and strong and we found it a fascinating talk. Afterwards instead of our usual coffee and biscuits there was the traditional mince pies and fruit juice (we are not able to have wine as our meetings are held on church property) THE VICTORIAN MILITARY SOCIETY The Victorian Military Society is a non-commercial organisation whose aim is to promote the study of military history in the period 1837 - 1914. They will be holding their annual Victorian Military Fair on SATURDAY 4th MARCH 1995 at the New Connaught Rooms. London W.C.2. The Fair runs from 10.30 a.m. - 4.30 p.m. Adm. £2.50 adults: 50p children. The Society offers a FREE identification service for military photos, medals, badges etc. If you have an item which you cannot identify or a photo of a soldier and you need to know his 69 regiment, take it along and they will do their best to help you. Although their principal interest is between 1837 and 1914. they may be able to help with items from outside that period. For more details contact: Dan Ailen. Hon. Publicity Officer, Victorian Military Society, 20 Priory Road, Newbury, Berks, RG 14 7 QN AERONAUTICS AT THE PALACE On Thursday 19th January 1995 at the Crystal Palace Museum. Anerley Hill, SE19 John King, chairman of the Lewisham Historical Society, will give an illustrated talk about the history of the many forms of aviation at Crystal Palace. The talk starts at 7.30 p.m. Adm: £1.00 CPF members. £2.00 non-members. Advance tickets can be obtained from the Crystal Palace Museum Shop. BLUE PLAQUES Last month Bromley put up another Blue Plaque. This one was for the internationally celebrated naval architect Sir Victor Shepheard. It was erected at his former home in Manor Park, Chislehurst by Bromley,s Environment Group. Sir Victor designed the Royal Yacht Britannia and was professor of naval architecture at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, before the start of the second world war. There are a further 12 plaques in the Borough:- 1. RG.Wells Allders, High Street, Bromley 2. W.G. Grace 'Fairmount', Motringham Lane, Mottingham 3. Prince Peter Kropotkin 6 Crescent Road, Bromley 4. Alexander Muirhead 20 Church Road, Shortlands 5. Richmal Crompton 'The Glebe', Oakley Road, Bromley Common 6. Harry Relph "Little Tich" Blacksmith's Arms, Cudham Lane South, Cudham 7. Enid Blyton 83 Shortlands Road, Bromley 8. Walter de la Mare 195 MacKenzie Road, Beckenham 9. Thomas Crapper 12 Thomsett Road, London S.E.20 10. William Willett 'The Cedars'. 82 Camden Park Road, Chislehurst 11. Lord Ted Willis 5 Shepherds Green, Chislehurst 12. Sir Geraint Evans 34 Birchwood Road, Petts Wood N. W. ¡C F. H. S. On Friday January 20th the North West Kent Family History Society have a talk entitled 'History of the Cinema in Kent'. This will be given by Tony Moss who really knows his subject and should be most interesting. The meeting starts at 7.15 p.m. in The Great HalL Bromley Civic Centre. LOCAL STUDIES LIBRARY The 'Kentish Times' have passed over to Bromley Local Studies a vast collection of negatives which appeared in the 'Bromley Times'. These cover a wide variety of events from about the 1960's and will be valuable material to all local historian. Unfortunately this material has not yet been catalogued and so is not available to the public. The library is asking for help to get this important job done so if you have some spare time please go along and offer your 70 services. Anyone who regularly uses the Local Studies Library will appreciate how little time the staff get to settle down to good stint of indexing and cataloguing the vast amount of material in the archives. So much of their time is spent in answering queries, showing the public how to use the microfiche machines and where to find the necessary information. It is no good us moaning because we can't see much of the archival material if we don't do something to help with it, so please spare a little of your time on this important job. Llinos Thomas has once again sent in an update of the latest additions to the Local Studies Library. The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs: the story of the world's first prehistoric sculptures by Steve McCarthy and Mick Gilbert. In rebuilding the Crystal Palace at Sydenham Hill Paxton also transformed the grounds. The new public park featured a maze, a working replica of a Derbyshire lead mine and of course 'life size' dinosaurs!. Although various articles and books have mentioned the dinosaurs, this is the first book devoted solely to the statues. The book has received critical acclaim from various experts and was described by a lecturer at Cambridge University, as "outstandingly well done ...... a very useful work to a wide range of readers". Crystal Reflections: memories of the Crystal Palace (Video) Joan Warwick and Eric Spottiswoode provide colourful memories of the Crystal Palace and the entertainment's and activities which took place there. The Maxim's flying machine is remembered by Eric as "truly petrifying the first trip - you went round at a fair speed with no safety belt, only a little rail to hold on". The video is illustrated with original archive material. Crystal Palace: Joseph Paxton and Charles Fox by John McKean This book is a superbly photographed study of the Crystal Palace with detailed manufacturing and assembly drawings. John McKean provides a detailed description o f the design and process of erection of the Crystal Palace. The book shows that 'in theory1 it could be re-built tomorrow with perfect precision. The Gentleman at War: policing Britain 1939- 45 by Roy Ingleton This is a "very readable work of significant historical importance" as very little has been written about the work of the police in the 2nd World War. The book examines the changed role of the wartime police force and the effect the war had on the morals of the population. British Propaganda and the State of the First World War by Gary Messinger This is the newest addition to the H.G.Wells collection, which is one of the largest collection of books by and about Wells in the country. During the war many of the techniques of modem propaganda were worked out. This book chronicles the process by which the techniques were established and how individuals, such as H.G.Wells were influencial in determining the nature of modem propaganda. Maps for Family History: a guide to the records of the Tithe. Valuation Office and National farm Survevs of England and Wales 1836 - 1943 by William Foot. This is No. 9 in the 'Public Record Office Readers' Guide'. The book describes the historical background to each of the surveys, why and how the records were created, what information thev contained, and how to use them. It shows you how the various surveys can be used to 71 answer questions such as 'What type of house did my forebears live in'? How much and what did they own? Were they farmers? etc.' All the Staff at Bromley Local Studies Library wish the members of the Local History Society the compliments of the season. NEW PUBLICATIONS BY OUR MEMBERS Two new local history books have recently been published by our members. Paul Rason reviews Muriel Searle's Orpington in Old Picture Postcards. With 75 photographs nearly all taken from postcards there is plenty to study for the casual observer or more serious researcher of Orpington's past.